Can You See Me?
by Dark Angel's Blue Fire
Summary: Melinda finds herself being pulled into a world of shadow when she attempts to help Melanie Costa a young girl in pain. But Melanie has secrets, secrets that could destroy everything Melinda has ever held dear...


Hey everyone, so this would be my first attempt at Ghost Whisperer I'd love to know what you think

**Disclaimer: **I would love to own Melinda and the world she lives in... but I don't.

So with that out the way on with the story and let me know what you think.

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Can You See Me? 

Prologue: Help Not Wanted

Melinda Gordon looked like any other newly wed. She was happily in love with her paramedic husband Jim and had just moved to a small town and opened an antiques shop. It had been a long time since she had been this content with her life.

To look at there was nothing special about Melinda Gordon; she was beautiful and had the personality to match. But she wasn't just any newly wed. There was nothing that made her stand out in a crowd but he had a Gift.

A Gift that that made her stand out in a completely different way. She could speak to the dead. Earthbound spirits her grandmother had often called them and Melinda embraced her Gift even though she often had reason to fear, the dead after all could be unpredictable.

Despite this Melinda saw her Gift as just that, a Gift, a way to help people and ease their suffering. She made a difference in people's lives and allowed those who were left behind as well as the sprits themselves to move on.

She smiled as she saw the regulars in the square and smiled at them most returned her wave and smile and then she walked on towards her shop. She smiled as she entered seeing Andrea with a customer.

The girl was young, maybe nineteen or twenty about 5'4 medium build and long dyed red-purple hair that fell down her back in soft ringlets. She had a companion with her. An older lady that was stood smiling at the girl and listening intently to what Andrea was talking about. Andrea looked up as she heard the bell go.

"Melinda!" Andrea said. Melinda could tell right away that something was wrong the way Andrea inclined her head towards the back of the shop. Melinda nodded but stopped in front of the girl before she did.

"Hi. I'm Melinda." The girl looked up and smiled quietly. "Hi. I'm Melanie." Melinda smiled watching the older women. "Nice to meet you Melanie."

The older woman looked at her and rolled her eyes. "I know you can see me. I'll wait until you've spoken to your friend." Melinda nodded and followed Andrea into the back room.

"There's someone here with that girl Melanie isn't there?" She said softly. Melinda nodded. "Yes." Andrea nodded. "This one is calm though." "Very." Melinda said. "Are you finished?" The old woman asked stepping behind. "I'm sorry to interrupt, I know this Gift you have can sometimes be a curse but I need your help."

Melinda nodded. The woman looked at Andrea. "She's a lovely girl. Very helpful." Melinda smiled. "She likes you." She said to Andrea. Andrea smiled. "I'll leave you to talk." Then she left.

Melinda turned to look at the older woman. "You seem to know a lot about how this works." The woman smiled. "You don't honestly believe you are the only one with this Gift do you?" Melinda shook her head. "I know I'm not. But there are few that can." "I bore the same gift and now I need you to help me."

Melinda stared. "You had this?" The woman smiled. "Yes. I believe my having M.S helped my Sight." Melinda looked at her. "You are in no pain anymore?" The lady shook her head smiling. "Not at all." Then she frowned. "Melanie is my grand daughter and she is going through some hard times at the moment. I picked a most inconvenient time to die."

"Did Melanie know of you gift?" The lady laughed lightly. "She knew all right. She was sometimes the one that kept me sane. My beautiful grand daughter." The lady signed. "My name is Kaitlin. And if you'll allow it I'd like your help." Melinda nodded before she even knew she had. She couldn't not help this lady. Kaitlin had once done the same for spirits that had crossed over and Melinda couldn't say no now she needed the same.

"What can I do for you?" Melinda asked softly. "Help my granddaughter." Kaitlin said simply. "That's all I ask. I just want you to help my granddaughter." Melinda nodded. "Have you got anything for me that could help?" "Do not; under any circumstances tell her what you can do." Kaitlin said strongly. Melinda nodded. "I'll do what I can." Kaitlin nodded. "Then that's all I ask." She said again before looking back out at the shop. "I must go Melanie is leaving."

Melinda nodded and watched as Kaitlin left. She knew she needed to make contact quickly. She made a split second decision to go after her. She caught up with Melanie on the way out. "Hey,"

Melinda said. "Did you find everything you were looking for?" "More than enough thank-you." Melanie said before turning away. Melinda knew she needed to keep Melanie talking. But Melanie apparently knew what she was doing because she turned her intelligent eyes on Melinda and said, "Look," She put her hands on her hips and regarded Melinda with hazel eyes that had seen too much. "I'm sure you think you're trying to help but please leave it alone."

"I know what you can do and I'm sure my grandmother has been to see you and pleaded with you to help me. Like she can't talk to me herself anyway. You are not the only one who can see spirits Melinda Gordon but unlike you I want nothing to do with this stupid curse. It brings nothing but bad luck and cursing down on my head. So whatever my grandmother asked you? Like I can't guess." She sneered,

"I don't want your help and I don't want this gift the best thing you can do is leave me alone. I already said that to Gran to get on with it and cross over but for some reason she feels it's appropriate to stay and give me a headache bigger than the one I already have."

"So please spare me the I can help you crap. And just leave me alone. You'll bring more spirits with you and I have more than my fare share thank-you."

With that she turned and walked away Kaitlin stayed and looked at Melinda. "I'm sorry Melinda. I should have guessed she'd realise you were like us." "She sees them too?"

Kaitlin nodded and sighed, "Melanie is probably one of the strongest Spirit-Seers I have ever seen but her experience has not been a good one because of the power she wields. She's angry at me for leaving her to deal with it when her mother refuses to accept that she has the gift at all, her father and brother don't acknowledge it and her other grandmother tried to have her committed to a mental facility. Something her parents stopped but they have no idea how to deal with the power she wields."

Kaitlin sighed then the pain she felt on behalf of her granddaughter was evident on every line of her face.

"Like I said before, I picked the wrong time to die. My little Melanie needs my help and now she's hurting too much to listen to me." She stopped again.

"Her nightmares shake the house sometimes and the influx of spirits her light attract is in numbers I have never seen before. I do not blame her being angry with me or angry in general. But please Melinda she's a beautiful soul under all that anger and she needs help. Help she won't let me give but with your help maybe she'll let me. Don't give up on her please."

Then she faded away and Melinda was left staring at the green remembering her own battle with the spirits and leaving college because her supposed best friend had made it hell for her and she hadn't had the heart to go back. She remembered losing her own grandmother, the pain of it still pulled and she saw the pain in Melanie's eyes.

No, she wasn't going to give up on this girl. Melinda saw too much of herself in the young girl and she remembered the pain. If she could help Melanie get over even a quarter of the pain she was feeling then Melinda had done her job. The problem was,

How was she going to get through to Melanie? Melanie wasn't just another relative she was someone who knew about the spirit world. She knew it, saw it and despised it. This time Melinda wasn't fighting to make Melanie believe she was fighting to show Melanie that the Gift she had wasn't a curse and that she could do so much good with it. The question was, how was she going to do that?

There had been times when she had hated her Gift but it had never lasted long. How was she going to show that their shared gift could bring light as well as Shadows and that the Light was a gift to have?

Of course if she had known what she was heading for opening herself up to the face of Melanie's power she might have thought twice about Melanie's view on her Gift but that was to come.

Right then all Melinda could think was that she had another relative, another spirit to help and she would do it whatever the cost. As she would find out the cost would become higher than she ever thought possible.


End file.
